The Matt Lauer Friars Club Roast Shows Us Al Franken’s Behavior Isn’t an Aberration — It’s a Way of Life for Democrat Men

by Rush Limbaugh - Dec 6,2017

RUSH: Thirty minutes ago it was four women in the Senate who were demanding now that Al Franken resign. The number has now elevated to six, six female Democrat senators demanding that Al Franken resign. Another woman has popped up and said that Franken couldn’t wait to plant a juicy, wet kiss on her after some kind of deception, said she was grossed out. There will be more because what we are learning is that this is a way of life for Al Franken. These are not aberrational instances. They are not occasional happenstances. It appears to be a way of life.

And it’s not just Al Franken. The more we are learning about leftist Democrat men, especially those men in the media, many of them, and in entertainment, Hollywood, whatever, man, oh, man, are they the exact opposite of the way they present themselves. I’ve often wondered about this. It’s one of these things that the left, it’s been an interesting dichotomy.

The conservative movement, the Republican Party’s the home of family values, right? And they’re mocked and made fun of and laughed at and teased, impugned and all that. And every now and again you have some right-winger, some Republican who falls off the great moral pedestal, and the left pounces and they talk about what a bunch of hypocrites the conservatives are, and what a bunch of prudes.

So they run that pedestal faller right out of his life, right out of whatever world he’s living in, be it politics or business. And they try it without even the slightest deviation from norm because when you have a platform that’s family values and you waver from it — and we all fail now and then. All of us have moral failings. But they are given no latitude, no leeway whatsoever.

But the point about it to me is, look at the people making the allegations. They come at it as though they are perfect, that they are paragons of moral virtue and they’re right on all the leftist issues. They’re pro-choice, which means they’re pro-abortion. They are supposedly great feminists. They have all of this respect for women, and look at what the truth is. The truth is that they are the true reprobates. They are not those who occasionally fall off of a moral pedestal. They deny and don’t even exist on a moral pedestal while claiming to lead it, while claiming to define it.

Folks, I can’t quote the jokes to you. I mean, I could, if I didn’t care about values and decency. But all of these guys, like Jeff Zucker is one of the roasters and he’s making jokes about all the women Lauer’s screwing around with. They’re all making jokes about how Lauer never goes home, he may as well not even be married. They make jokes about his wife. They make jokes about the size of Lauer’s manhood, and everybody’s laughing. I mean, it is so bad that even Joe Scarborough walked out of it.

Now, normally these Friars Club roasts end up being televised on Comedy Central. This one wasn’t, apparently, and it’s like nine years old now. But it contains, folks, every joke about Matt Lauer, every joke that was told indicates that these people all knew what Matt Lauer was and who he was and what he was doing. They’re laughing about it and they’re having the grandest old time, and so is Matt Lauer. To him it’s a moment of great achievement to be roasted at the Friars Club.

Every secret that Matt Lauer thinks he has, all of these people, men and women on the dais roasting him knew it, including Jeff Zucker, who now runs CNN. Who, when it was lately learned that Matt Lauer had that button unlocking the door in his desk at the Today Show, was doing all this extramarital activity, it was Jeff Zucker, “I just don’t know that man. I’ve never seen that man. No.” BS. He knew it! They all knew it!

And these protestations of ignorance, shock and surprise, folks, it’s worse than hypocrisy. These people are undermining the very moral fiber and character of our country while sitting in judgment of people with whom they disagree politically and ideologically. And they’re phonies. They are liars. They don’t dare live their lives in public the way they really live them. And they don’t say in public what they actually say and joke about and do in private. It’s worse.

While they are behaving in their ribald, reprobate ways, they attempt to occupy these positions of moral supremacy and superiority so that they can sit in judgment of their political enemies. And as we keep learning what’s happening here, we learn here, just as is the case with Al Franken, these are not isolated incidents. This is a way of life. It’s almost as though these people think, because of their power, their wealth, and their status as stars, that they entitled.

You know who else was at this roast? Oh, you’re smiling in there. You got a sly look. You’re wondering if I was gonna skate by this one? Do you know who else was at this roast? You don’t? The Trumpster was there. The Trumpster was at the roast, and he didn’t leave. And I’m sure the Trumpster laughed. What does this mean?

You can analyze Trump’s presence at this thing one of two ways. I choose to analyze it in multiple ways. Here’s the way I look at Trump being there. Trump there was, yeah. So on one hand, “My gosh. Trump was with the reprobates. He must be a reprobate. He’s sitting there laughing with ’em.” It means Trump was in the club once, folks. He was in the New York entertainer, star celebrity personality club. He got invited to this thing, and he went.

But he’s not a member anymore. Trump left. Trump has become the enemy of these people who formerly befriended him, sucked up to him, wanted him to be part of what they were this doing. He invited them to his events. They invited him to their events. And it was one big, happy family. Then all of a sudden Trump decides to leave the club and run for president.

Trump is essentially telling us who these people are, with attacks on the media, fake media, fake news, they know that he knows. And it just adds another reason to the long list of reasons why they want to destroy the guy, because Trump was an insider with these people, he knows who they are, but he has abandoned them. He left them. And now he’s attempted and succeeded in rising above them. And that is a big, no, no.

You’re not supposed to rise above people in the club because then you become a danger and a threat. And it isolates even more — or I should say elucidates even more why the Washington, DC, swamp and the media culture is so hell-bent on getting rid of Trump. It’s not simply because he’s an outsider and not simply because they don’t like him. It’s because of the threat that he poses, the knowledge that he has.

Now, the Access Hollywood video. I’m thinking about this in a whole new light now, as these people… I mean, the Access Hollywood video? Folks, it’s nothing compared to what these people were saying. It’s nothing. What Trump said in one line in that Access Hollywood video is nothing compared to the absolute filth that passed for comedy in this roast of Matt Lauer. It’s not even close. So when the Access Hollywood video is made public by the Washington Post, all of these people go through the pro forma reaction of outrage and shock and, “How uncouth!”

This is such hypocrisy!

These people in this roast were saying things worse about women than Trump’s ever even thought, and here they are claiming, “He’s unsuited, he’s unfit, he’s not qualified. Trump is this; he’s that.” We now know why Trump didn’t buckle to this thing. One of the reasons. There are probably many. But one of the reasons he didn’t buckle to this thing is because of what he knew about these people. He had (pardon the pun) the ultimate trump card.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now the number is up to 11, ladies and gentlemen. Eleven senators today are now calling on “fellow Democrat,” the big dumb liar, Al Franken, “to resign, in a jaw-dropping avalanche of statements addressing the latest sexual misconduct allegations against the Minnesota [faux] senator. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand kicked things off, publishing a post on Facebook aptly titled ‘Senator Franken Should Step Aside.'” She was originally ambiguous but got on board the train today.

We have Gillibrand, “Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Patty Murray of Washington, Kamala Harris of California, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan all followed suit.” We don’t know what Mitt Romney thinks about this. We know that Mitt Romney thinks that what’s-his-face, Moore, ought to not run.

But we don’t know what Romney thinks about Franken yet. We’re waiting on that, and we’ll keep waiting. We’ll wait patiently on Mitch McConnell and the others. We’ll wait on what they think about what ought to happen to Al Franken. But it’s a way of life now. It’s become clear that it is a way of life — and with them forcing that great stud, John Conyers, out? I mean, women dug this guy. They didn’t even care if he hit ’em up in church! But they forced him out. The Congressional Black Caucasians are not happy about the racial disparity here, so something’s gotta give.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Al Franken says he’s gonna make an announcement tomorrow, not even specifying that it’s about this. But obviously Franken is gonna be scraping the bottom of whatever barrel he’s in trying to save things. Ten Democrat senators, including six women, are now demanding that Franken step down. So he’s gonna be scraping the barrels trying to find anybody that can speak up for him. He doesn’t want to resign. I guarantee you the guy’s delusional and thinks he’s got a chance of being elected president. And he does not want to have to quit this job, so he’s gonna go kicking and screaming if he eventually goes.

But he’s gonna have to go because they’ve gotta clear the decks to go after Trump. You know, they’re trying to bring forth women on Trump. I tell you, there’s another mitigating factor out there now, and it is this roast of Matt Lauer back in 2008. You know, this roast puts something else in perspective. Let’s go back to this Access Hollywood video. Everybody remembers one thing about that video and that is what Trump said celebrity allows you to do and so forth. But he said some other things about the entitlement that celebrity permits.

Now, it’s after this roast. You could make the case that Trump’s words in the Access Hollywood video to Billy Bush, I think he was actually not talking just about himself. I think he was telling us who these people are. He was telling us about all celebrities and entertainers. He had been to this roast. Folks, I’m telling you, it is abject filth. Now, I’m not a prude, either. But this stuff, they could never televise this anywhere. And it was not even supposed to be videoed, and somebody did, and it exists, and there’s now a transcript of it out there. That’s how we now know.

This thing was never supposed to have been known to have happened. Friars Club roast. It was at the Hilton hotel, which most of them are. Most of them are televised. This one was not. And once you see a story about it and see some of the jokes that were told and some of the things that were said about Matt Lauer and his wife, everybody in that room knew who Matt Lauer was and is. There’s not a single one of them who’s told the truth if they are expressing their shock, had no idea that Matt Lauer — just total BS.

And they’re telling jokes on each other. And they’re making jokes about all of them, how they play around outside their marriages and some of the things they’ve done. I mean, it’s despicable stuff. But what makes it really worthy is that these are the people that claim to be the social arbiters of American culture. They’re the ones who get to say that conservative family values, people like Mike Pence are weird, kook prudes, we don’t want these people leading us.

They claim they’re enlightened, they respect women, they’re big feminists, they’re pro-choice, they’re gonna protect women. We find out they’re rapists, they’re abusers, they are predators, and they are engaging in extramarital affairs, and they are filth! And they don’t deserve any moral pedestal from which to judge anybody else. They also claim to resent being judged, period. When you see this, you’ll understand why.

So if they’re gonna go make a move on Trump with whatever, they clear out Conyers, they clear out Franken, and they’ve done what they’ve done to Roy Moore as a prelude to trying to get rid of Trump or just include this stuff in their litany of criticisms of Trump, this thing, the transcript and the video of this roast exists as one of the greatest shutdown pieces of video and news stories there would be. Because there’s not a one of these people who spoke at this roast, who were seen laughing at these jokes, there’s not a one of them who could, “Oh, that’s irrelevant. Oh, that doesn’t matter. Everybody knows that’s what happens during roasts.”

No, you’ve been lying about what you knew about Matt Lauer and yourselves. You’ve been lying about yourselves and how you live, you’ve been lying about other people, and this thing exposes it. And Trump knows it because he was there. But Trump has abandoned that club, as I pointed out. So, knowing this, you have to put it into the hopper of knowledge that helps you explain why certain people do and don’t say or do certain things, including Trump. He’s got a trump card in this. And I’m not suggesting that he’s holding it and is aware of it.

I’m just telling you that if I were on the Trump advisory team, that’s how I would see this, which I am not, but, believe me, it is the last thing any of these people would ever want anybody outside their club to know about them. Their lives, their public lives are lived in one of the biggest phony existences you can imagine, once you know what happened in this roast. “Rush, don’t you think you’re making too big a deal? It’s a roast. You’re supposed to go out there and tell ribald jokes.”

Folks, this stuff is all true. That’s what made it funny and shocking. They’re telling the truth about Matt Lauer. Matt Lauer’s telling the truth about himself when he gets up, and they’re all having the greatest time about it. These are not jokes made up and are basically things that are not true. These are things which are true. You know, a roast, if you really to want define a roast, is where the truth about somebody is told.

All of the failings, all the phony, it’s told and dressed up with jokes and made to look funny. But that’s what a roast is. This one, anyway, the Friars Club roast. Now, the old Dean Martin roasts on TV, I mean, those were sanitized, and those were written by people that had to get past the standards and practices censors back in the sixties and seventies. But this stuff that was never meant to be seen, never meant to be aired, it is bull’s-eye truth.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The latest Al Franken story is in The Politico. By the way, we’ve got some great calls hanging on here. So if you’re on hold, we want you to hang on. We’re gonna get to you quickly. Politico headline: “Another Woman Says Franken Tried to Forcibly Kiss Her.” I told you about this. He tried to plant a wet one right on the old cauliflower there, rights on the old lips, and the woman was repulsed by it. “The former staffer ducked,” it says here, “to avoid Franken’s lips as she hastily left the room. She said Franken told her, ‘Hey, it’s my right as an entertainer.'” Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Wait a minute.

“It’s my right?” Franken says (paraphrased), “Hey, I have a right! I have a right to jam my tongue down your throat. I’m an entertainer.” Wait, that’s strangely like, “Yeah, you know, being a celebrity, women will let you do anything. I like to grab ’em by the…” The Access Hollywood video. They’ve been protecting Franken up ’til now. Speaking of the Matt Lauer roast, there was one other very curious attendee at the Matt Lauer roast, and her name was Nancy O’Dell. Now, Nancy O’Dell used to host Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight and E! Entertainment Weekly and whatever other shows.

I mean, they go through these shows in the resume, and then they move on to As the World Turns, then One Life to Live, and then hopefully Scandal, and then it’s over. Nancy O’Dell was at the Matt Lauer roast, and she was yukking it up and she was laughing at all of this just filthy so-called humor. She is who Trump was supposedly talking about in the Access Hollywood video, and was so outraged and so offended and so upset. But yet there she was. There’s even a photo.

“Nancy O’Dell attends a Friars Club roast of Matt Lauer at the New York Hilton October 24, 2008, in New York City.” I’ve met Nancy O’Dell. Strangely enough, it was at a… Where was it? Oh, it was at Jim Nantz’s Saturday night clambake dinner at the AT&T Pro-Am out in Monterey, California. She was very nice. She was there with Michael Bolton that night. She was very, very nice. But she was at the Lauer roast yukking it up. They all were! They’re not bothered by any of this that Trump did. They’re not upset by that. They do that and much more, which is what makes them such hypocrites.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Minor correction. There’s no video of the Matt Lauer roast. Cameras were banned. Telephones were banned. But there was a Village Voice reporter in there who took notes under a table. That’s how we know what happened at the Matt Lauer roast.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Well, now it is an avalanche on Al Franken. Of course, the women senators demanded Franken go. Now the boys — the Democrat boys in the Senate — are following their lead. They’re on the leash. Senator Durbin, boy senator from Illinois, is now demanding that Franken go. So, once again on the Democrat side, it’s the women that are leading the way. (chuckles) Yes.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We started the program today, six female Democrat senators were demanding that Al Franken resign. Now we’re up to 22 senators and counting. The boy senators on the Democrat side are now falling in line behind the female senatorial lead.